2-20 Pop QuizSummary by: Dennis Orginal Air Date: 1995-03-10 Writer: Kevin Kelton Director: David Trainer Capsule Summary: Cory and Shawn cheat using Turner’s lesson plan; the bullies find a new leader in Eric when Harley goes to reform school Extendo Summary: While playing football in the hall, Cory and Shawn stumble upon Frankie and Joey, who are uncharacteristically listless. It turns out they’re depressed because Harley’s gone to reform school (“It’s called juvenile boot camp!” Frankie corrects them) and now they have no leader. Lost, they decide to just go to class… Anyway, Feeny takes the football that Cory and Shawn were playing with, but instead of giving them a lecture about not playing ball inside, he gets upset with them for getting poor grades. Not just poor grades, horrible grades. Grades so low you’d have to try to get them. Shawn got a 12. Cory got a 16. Feeny tries to tell them to work harder but they just don’t understand. They then persuade Turner to give them an extension on a book report they didn’t hand in.
At the Matthews’ house, family time is afoot. Morgan is making sandwiches with random materials to positive reviews. Alan forces Eric to give Cory one of the water park tickets he won. Eric wants to take a girl, but Alan simply doesn’t care.
Upstairs in Cory’s room, Cory and Shawn are bored. They want to get the work done, kind of, but just don’t want to do it. They don’t understand how all the other students get all their work done punctually. Finally, they decide to rent the movie of they book they’re supposed to have read (“Of Mice and Men”) and “copy the junk on the back of the box” as their report.
At the school the next day, Frankie and Joey are still miserable. Cory and Shawn briefly torment them, then move on. Frankie and Joey then see Eric punk Cory out of his water park ticket and get an idea. Frankie and Joey find Eric and follow him. They offer their services, and Eric rejects. They don’t seem to care, though, and continue following Eric anyway.
Cory and Shawn rush to Turner’s apartment to get their papers in. Turner quickly scans them, and soon realizes what they are. (“Exceptional cast… powerfully acted…”) He doesn’t really care, because he is preoccupied with a date he is getting ready for. He invites Cory and Shawn to stay and have a soda, they oblige, and he goes into his bedroom to change. After messing around his apartment (lets just say the word “hijinks” strongly applies), Cory and Shawn find Turner’s lesson plan, take note of an upcoming pop quiz, and quickly exit. They feel as though they have no right to know what they learned, but are happy they “beat the system.” The next day in class, Turner springs the pop quiz. Cory and Shawn fake being surprised, then kindly offer mass amounts of #2 pencils to their classmates.
Griff Hawkins is the new kid in school. He enters Feeny’s office late, having sent a decoy to cover. He sits behind Feeny’s desk when he’s told to take a seat. He flirts successfully with Feeny’s secretary. He tells his decoy to attend his first class for him, and “take good notes.” Basically, he’s the cool kid. Feeny promptly gives him detention. In the hallway, Griff is swarmed by tons of girls. Frankie and Joey are dumbstruck with awe when they see him.
So Eric takes his unwanted lackeys to Chubbie’s to help them get a new leader. Griff is cold on the idea at first, but when they help him out of a sticky situation where a jock dumbass gets upset over Griff’s encounter with his girlfriend, he lightens up a bit. The lackeys have found their new leader.
Meanwhile, Cory and Shawn get great grades on their quizzes. Shawn is really excited, saying “This one grade alone gives me a decent shot at a trade school!” But Cory is less than enthused. He feels guilty for cheating, and experience nausea as a result. He convinces a reluctant Shawn to confess. When they do, Turner doesn’t seem to care. That “pop quiz” had been assigned for quite a while. They had studied and got good grades legally. Yay! Sporting a new epiphany, Cory and Shawn exit. Feeny, having entered mid-scene, is surprised that Turner’s ploy worked, and forks over $20.
The next say at school, Cory and Shawn annoy their former tormentors, apparently not having gotten the memo that they have a new leader. Frankie and Joey gladly shove our heroes into a garbage can, where they spend the night. Quotes: “We’re lackeys! We’re hangers-on with nothing to hang on to!” --Joey “I’d give up on them, but I don’t think they’d notice.” --Mr. Feeny “They can put a man on the moon but you still gotta read.” --Shawn Rants:
Two minor things: One, why did Turner invite Cory and Shawn into his apartment? They snooped around, talked about Turner’s CDs and love life and whatnot, found his lesson plan, and left. Even if leaving the lesson plan out was the idea, how did he know they would be there? They were a day early. It just doesn’t make sense…
Two: They continually refer to the test as a pop quiz. Is a pop quiz not a quiz that is a surprise? If it has been the assignment for the “last two weeks,” as Turner suggests, then it can’t be much of a surprise, can it? (I haven't seen the episode in awhile, but maybe by "the assignment" he meant "reading the chapters"? So even if they didn't know about the quiz per se-- the other students in the class seemed surprised about it, right?-- they knew (or should have known) what material they were supposed to have covered by then. -Laura)
Shawn plays his best Eric:
- Shawn: A twelve? How do you get a twelve?
Feeny: I don’t know. You ever open a book?
Shawn: What?
Feeny: (A bit frustrated) A book! Do you ever open a book?
Shawn: What?!
Cory: Don’t ask me, I got a sixteen.
Feeny: Gentlemen, do you ever go home and open a book?
Shawn: What?
Feeny: (Angrily) I want you to go home this afternoon and open a book! I don’t care what you had otherwise planned, I order you, nay, I command you. Go home and open a book!
- Cory: (Pleadingly) Look, Mr. Turner, just give us till Wednesday. I swear we’ll have them in. (Turner shifts his weight, conveying “no”) Tuesday?
Turner: I’m grading them Sunday.
Shawn: So Tuesday?
Cory: Please, Mr. Turner, help me bring up my grades. I just got a sixteen.
Shawn: And I got a twelve. Between us that makes twenty-four.
Turner: Twenty-eight.
Shawn: (Gleefully) Thanks!
Turner: Okay, I’ll throw you one. Have your papers in my hand, at my place, Sunday, five ‘o’clock, not a minute later.
Shawn: Alright, Mr. Turner, I should tell you… my dog ate it.
Cory: (Leans towards Shawn, speaking quietly) Not yet!
- Cory: (Fiddling with a ball) Alright, if I make this one, we start. (Shoots the ball at a hoop across the room, but misses and the ball goes out the window)
Feeny: (From outside) Open a book!
Shawn: What?
- Cory: 4:58, we made it.
Shawn: Sprinted six blocks, ran up four flights of stairs…
Cory: But we made it!
Turner: I admire your dedication, especially since the deadline is five o’clock tomorrow.
Shawn: Okay, we’ll wait, then.
Turner: Give me. (Reading) “‘Of Mice and Men,’ a poignant tale of two unlikely friends set against the backdrop of the Great Depression…” (Nods approvingly) “Exceptional cast… powerfully acted…”
Shawn: Two thumbs up.
- Cory: (Reading Turner’s lesson plan) Tuesday, pop quiz, chaps eight, ten to sixteen.
Shawn: Darn, it’s in code.
- Shawn: (Rushing out) Yeah, my book is due back and I gotta rewind it.
- Shawn: We, um… We kinda saw it at your house in your lesson plan.
Turner: The one I left open on my desk?
Shawn: Yeah.
Turner: The one I easily could have covered, but I didn’t?
Shawn: Yeah, that’s the one. Alright, what’s going on here, Mr. Turner, if that’s your real name.
Cory: Wait, you mean you want us to know what to study?
Shawn: (Throws a hand in the air) Well, I’m lost!
Turner: It’s the whole idea! I stand in front of the class and talk, you learn. It’s called education. (Feeny appears, watching from the doorway)
Shawn: (Slowly realizing) So that’s why this building exists! (Slowly, as it comes to him) Some of us and students, and… some of us are teachers, and if the students listen to the teachers, then… (Pause, rubs his forehead) Oh, I almost got it!
Cory: Then they get good grades.
Shawn: (Freaking out) Yeah, but why?!
Turner: Why do you think, Shawn?
Shawn: (Slowly, like before) Because… if you get good grades… it means you’ve actually learned something. Am I close?
Highlights:
- Cory compares Frankie to “A blue 1995 Buick Regal.”
- After Frankie and Joey don’t chase them, Shawn suggests “Maybe they lapped us.”
- Morgan’s taste sensation: Lucky Charms and Cheeze Whiz. Next Week: Froot Loops on Pita
- Eric: See, when I look at this ticket, I see someone in a skimpy wet bikini.
Alan: Well, that’s entirely up to Cory.
- Eric’s lackey lessons:
Eric: Hey! My name is not Rico, and I don’t need lackeys. Don’t you guys get it? I hate you creepos, you’re scum!
Joey: (Steps forwards threatening) Oh, really? I’d like to hear you say that again.
Eric: You’re scum!
Joey: (Smiles, relaxed) Good, now smack me.
- Frankie and Joey try to impress:
Griff: Well, you were the guys sucking the quarters out of the soda machine, right?
Joey: Oh yeah, you want change for a dollar? Frankie, burp, come on.
Did You Ever Notice… What’s the deal with Frankie’s hair? In this one, it’s long and black. It’s also been short and brown. It’s not like it changes once, either, it definitely goes back and forth.
Fun Facts: Shawn has a fear of fish, he’s afraid to retrieve Turner’s CD from his fish tank. Episode Themes: Cory and Shawn Hijinks, The Bullies Rating: 3. Amusing, especially Shawn’s constant comedy barrage, but aside from that, mostly average. Nothing was horrible, like none of the plots were annoying to watch, but the episode was largely forgettable. Back | Back to Season 2 Episode Guide | Next | |
